Episode 2 Season 2: Shouldn’t I be Blogging? #Blogging #Podcast

In this Episode:

We talk about why Blogging is important and how you can get started and what it takes to get people to actually follow and read your blog. We are joined by our Special Guest: Amaryllis Turman, who is the blogger-in-chief of The Opinionated Woman’s Musings, a reviews and musings website whose following is building quickly. She talks about how she got started, what platforms she used along the way and what works for her to get her following and to keep growing it. She talks about how she builds relationships with her followers and readers as well as connecting with Authors and publishing companies that help drive readers to her site. And unlike yours truly, she is very consistent in her postings and she talks about how she keeps her schedule. And what about a “blog tour” to get more traction to your blog?

We also talk about writing, creativity, and how much creative juices are our daily allowance. And finally tales of a voracious reader.  What kind of books do you read?

Editor’s Note: Chuck was off on his own adventures so sadly he wasn’t on there.

Here is some of the places you can find Amaryllis online:

Her info:

Blog www.amaryllisturman.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/towmusings

Twitter @towmusings

Who she is following on Twitter: Luvvie Ajayi @luvvie Chrissy Teigen @chrissyteigen JK Rowling @jk_rowling

Blogs she reads and why:

Haiku out of Africa https://wandererhaiku.wordpress.com/  poetry

Out and About with the GeoKs (JEE-oh-kays) https://thegeoks.wordpress.com/ outdoors adventure, hiking

Awesomely Luvvie http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/ pop culture blogger and NY Times bestselling author

 

And her list of Recommended authors

For humor/entertainment and social commentary Luvvie Ajayi

For SciFi romance Anna Hackett & Cara Bristol

For Paranormal romance Terry Bolryder

For Contemporary romance Carly Phillips

For Fiction Liane Moriarty

For South Carolina mysteries Hope Clark

This is the Hotel that Amarylis talks about during the podcast:

Links and Information about WordPress

WordPress Log 6kLinks and Information About WordPress

January 2015 Edition

Here is a list of plugins, sites, ideas, and links to material about WordPress,
resources to help with Blogging in general, and help with Social Media.

 

You can download WordPress from WordPress.org (not to be confused with WordPress.com)

Download WordPress: https://wordpress.org/download/

Download Themes: https://wordpress.org/themes/

Download Plugins: https://wordpress.org/plugins/

 

Free Images:

https://images.google.com

https://www.flickr.com/

http://www.hubspot.com/free-marketing-resources

 

Not Free Images:

https://www.canva.com/

http://www.gettyimages.com/

 

Free Image Editing Tools:

Ifranview: http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm

Paint.net: http://www.getpaint.net/download.html

Gimp for Windows: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

Plugins to Optimize Your WordPress Site:

Shrink Images

WP Smushit: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/

EWWW Image Optimizer: https://wordpress.org/plugins/ewww-image-optimizer/

 

Cache or Minify JavaScript and CSS:

AutoOptimize: https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/

 

Site Caching:

WP Super Cache: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/

 

Sitemaps:

Google Sitemap by BestWebSoft: https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-plugin/

Google XML Sitemaps https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

 

Page Speed Testing Sites:

Google Page Speed: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Pingdom Web Test: http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

WebpageTest.org http://www.webpagetest.org/

 

 

Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en

Bing Webmaster Tools http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster

Yandex: https://webmaster.yandex.com/addurl.xml

Security Plugins and Sites for WordPress:

WordFence: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/ (My favorite, also I use their caching tool instead of WP Super Cache)

iThemes Security: https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/

Sucuri: http://sucuri.net/

 

Scheduling and Planning Posts

WP Scheduled Posts: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-scheduled-posts/

Hubspot Excel Spreadsheet: http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-calendar (requires creating account)

 

Suggested Books:

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzsimmons
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O4RHN8M?pldnSite=1

 

WordPress: From Setup to Website by Roy Richardson

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DP61H3A

 

Social Sharing Plugins:

WP to Twitter: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-to-twitter/

Jetpack for WordPress (comes with WordPress but must be activated) Free mostly

WP Social Share: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-social-share/

Cresta Social Share: https://wordpress.org/plugins/cresta-social-share-counter/

Social Warfare: http://warfareplugins.com/ (Costs money)